At this evident, palpable, overwhelming proof of a supernatural power, of an invisible, fluidic force, emanating from this woman, issuing from all her pores and from her magician fingers, but submissive to a will foreign to humanity, Professor Otero, Mr. Lassi and the engineer Agri, stared at one another in stupefaction. They respectfully thanked the invisible John who replied instantly by greeting them with four heavy raps upon the table in the middle of the room.

1 De Rochas: Outward Manifestation of Motivity, p. 12. Communication of Chiaia.

Thus the seance closed.

Another skeptic, Dr. Vizani Scozzi, of Florence, obtained a similar impress.

Chevalier Chiaia secured a whole series of imprints in modeling clay. In the work of de Rochas, numerous specimens are found. Ochorowicz, himself, obtained a proof under conditions in which verification was certain.

Finally, as one cannot too often multiply testimony, we shall also cite the seances of Montfort I'Amaury, the records of which are found in the work of G. de Fontenay.1

I shall not concern myself here with the detractors who claim that the operation is no more difficult than the making of an omelette in a hat. Since the completeness of the control could not be understood by their feeble brains, they would never comprehend that the magician could not succeed with his omelette under the same conditions of absolute surveillance.

But one might suppose that the medium had stretched out her hand and placed her head in contact with the clay prepared for the purpose. This supposition, which seems natural to one who has not considered the conditions required for securing a mold, is not in the least probable.

Considerable pressure is required for the penetration of a form, whether the prepared substance be putty or potter's clay, and flesh is not able to bear this without deformation. A face pressed into putty would show flattened lips, a twisted or foreshortened nose. A cast can be obtained only by the process of the molder.

1G. de Fontenay: A Propos d'Eusapia Paladino. (Societe d'editions Scientifiques, Paris, 1898) and at the close of which a magnificent imprint was made upon glazier's cement.

The experiment with the hands is easy to make: in thrusting the fist into clay there was no such result as that obtained with Eusapia. I, myself, secured through her, the cast of a closed fist, and a clever molder on the rue Racine said he could not understand how this imprint could have been made.

In accomplishing this it was necessary for the fluidic member, after a maximum of effort, to detach itself from the mold by dissolving in order to escape without deranging the substance. It is for this reason, also, that the paraffine mold was invented, which, in the form of a fragile glove, makes it possible to obtain a unique cast, defying imitation.

Aksakoff published the conclusive report of a sculptor, charged with valuation of these objects, and the same appraisement was made with Eusapia. The eminent sculptor, Giuseppe Ronda, having lent his aid to Chevalier Chiaia, was convinced that it would be impossible to obtain such specimens by the direct process and became a confirmed spiritualist.

The operation, even in potter's earth, is not as simple as the layman might believe. A form is not drawn in this clay as a moist stamp is printed upon paper. This has been confirmed by de Rochas, who, following his report upon the seances of Naples in 1895, wrote: "In order to silence the doubts which arose in his mind, the author wished to ask counsel of persons who afforded the best guarantees of ability. An eminent young artist, Mr. George Kiewerk, a painter and sculptor of Florence, made a series of futile experiments in his studio, to reproduce these imprints in potter's clay."

An experiment made by Crookes tends to demonstrate that the fluidic organ is not always similar to that of the medium, but that the hand thus formed may borrow its momentary substance from other parts of the body.

Crookes placed a small quantity of aniline dye upon the surface of the mercury prepared for the experiment. Aniline is a powerful dye and Crookes' hands bore traces of it for a long time. Katie King plunged her fingers into the color, yet the fingers of the medium were found unstained. Traces of the aniline were found, however, upon her arm.

These experiments have never, I believe, occurred in a good light, as obscurity seems indispensable to the firm concretion of fluidic members.

But we must not forget that, in default of direct observation, it has been possible to bring into light and watch effectively the hands or feet of the medium, so as to give assurance that the imprint was indeed obtained without fraudulent intervention.

More recently experimenters have contrived extraordinary devices and preparations for controlling experiments. These have not prevented the phenomena, but have given rise to the conviction that nothing equals the value of direct observation.

We read in the Annals of Psychical Science for 1907, an account by Mr. Barzini, an Italian journalist, Editor of Corriere della serra, who, at different times seized the mysterious hands that touched him. He wrote (p. 154):

"The impression I received was very strange. Those hands did not escape, they dissolved, as it were. I missed them in my hands as though they had collapsed. One might have called them hands which grew soft, and melted away very rapidly after having attained the highest degree of energy and an absolutely life-like appearance at the moment of action."

Farther on, he wrote:

"A mandolin which had been placed upon a bed in the cabinet after having produced sounds at a distance, moved to the table where, in complete isolation, it began to play. It was entirely visible to all the audience.1

"We touched all around to assure ourselves of the isolation of the mandolin. Eusapia was held by her hands, one of which rested upon the edge of the table, the other upon her knee, and the mandolin continued to play. Of course there was no melody, but the chords vibrated strongly. The experimentors placed their hands a few feet above the strings and felt them vibrate more than ever. Prof. Morselli seized the neck of the mandolin with his left hand and the instrument quietly continued its intermittent arpeggios, taking them up each time as the experimenters desired. But each sound corresponded exactly to a movement of the medium's fingers which, at a distance, made the motions of playing, and finally picked out the last notes upon the forehead of Prof. Morselli.

1 We underline this because all experimentors who put patience and perseverance into their work, finally obtain phenomena in a good light, whereas the detractors always claim that these performances take place in darkness. This, parrot like, they assert repeatedly, despite everything.